Every year we find that trends within the food and drink industry change and augment to suit consumers demands. I’ve recently written about food and dining trends to watch out for in 2019, and in this article, I want to look into the drink trends that I think will have an impact on low sugar options in 2019. Read on to find out more.

Instaworthy presentations

With social media now being completely ingrained in our lives, it should come as no surprise that food and drink trends this year are bound to reflect this. One of the on-going major trends that is just going to become more prevalent in 2019 is ensuring Instaworthy presentations for products and product packaging. People don’t just want a drink now; they want a drink they can post online and share with the world – so it’s up to brand to ensure that their product fits this bill.

Although more traditional brands may be reluctant to bend to new media pressures, it really is worth making the effort. After all, if someone shares an image of your bottle or a cocktail in your bar, they’re sharing it with the world. They’re advocating for the brand and they are promoting you to their circle of friends and followers.

When it comes to presentation, there are always going to be trends that can help guide you. In a recent press release, Maartje Hendrickx, market development manager at GNT predicts: “In 2019, consumers will prefer food and drink that can arouse a sense of freshness and light – qualities that yellow and orange shades deliver, Generation Z will channel the positivity of sunshine shades to sprinkle cheerfulness into their lives.”

Plastic-free packaging

Something that has been unavoidable in recent times is the consumer call for companies to ditch single-use plastics. This trend is going to be more apparent than ever in 2019. In fact, recent figures have found that customers are using 53% less single-use plastics than they were last year – dubbed the ‘Attenborough effect’.

With customers turning against straws and single-use containers, I’m sure that we will see more brands looking to change their packaging and trying to find more sustainable options to win customers over.

As well as that, many people are now looking for reusable options, carrying reusable tote bags and coffee cups with them as they go, so they are able to forgo single-use plastic where possible. Outside of coffee shops, it’s rare to find a place that would refill a reusable container instead of offering a disposable cup or bottle, so I’m interested to see if we start seeing more drinks machine solutions that can allow consumers to bring their own container in the future.

Another big trend, especially in the health sector is cannabidiol. Cannabidiol, known as CBD, is extracted from the hemp plant and is hailed by many as being a great therapeutic treatment. We can see all over the market that products containing CBD are becoming more popular, but it seems this is true in no sector more than drinks.

The CEO of Green Monkey, a carbonated CBD infused drink available in the UK claims that he has seen orders “shoot up by over 8000%” in recent times as the FSA have proposed starting to bring in regulations to the market. As more and more people start to experiment with CBD products it will be interesting to see how the FSA, and the public, respond to this new ingredient.

Hyper-personalised functionality

The final drinks trend I expect to have a large impact on low sugar drinks is the call for hyper-personalised functionality. The large range of options on the market already means that customers have access to a product that suits them, as opposed to having to fall in line, but they are now looking for more. Within their products they are looking for hyper-personalised functionality, meaning that even the way they use their drinks can be customised.

My product, Kolibri, allows just this. With our signature Kolibri drops you can dictate exactly how much sweetness you want in your drink, and craft a glass suited exactly to your tastes. On the Kolibri website, I wrote about Pepsi buying SodaStream and what that could mean to so-called ‘experience’ drinks and I’m sure that we will start seeing more of these hyper-personalised drinks on the market in the near future.